Luter sails to second term as SBC president

Tuesday, Jun 11, 2013

By John Evans

HOUSTON (BP) -- Fred Luter, Jr., pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, La., was re-elected as president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Luter, whose historic election as president in 2012 was viewed as a milestone for the Southern Baptist Convention, won a second term unopposed as messengers delivered a standing ovation.

Mark A. Croston Sr., pastor of East End Baptist Church in Suffolk, Va., nominated Luter for the office, calling him "the kind of guy we need on the scene."

Croston recounted Luter's pastorate of Franklin Avenue Baptist beginning in 1986, when Luter took the helm of the struggling 65-member church and led its growth into a megachurch with thousands of members.

"[They] called this young, fiery preacher to be their pastor because he preached boldly and lived holy," Croston said.

Croston praised Luter as a man of dignity who has led the Southern Baptist Convention with distinction, lauding Luter's commitment to the inerrancy of the Bible, support of the Cooperative Program, and love of biblical marriage.

"He is the husband of Elizabeth, the father of Chip and Kimberly, the pastor of the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, La.," Croston said, "and a believer that Jesus Christ still is the way, the truth and the life, and that no man comes to the Father but by Him." --30--John Evans is a writer from Houston.